Electric devices for luminous advertising



Jan. 12, 1960 F. T. DE CARVALHO 2,921,237

. ELECTRIC DEVICES FOR LUMINOUS ADVERTISING Filed Feb. 19, 1957 sSheets-Sheetd INVENTOR: FAB/0 TEIXE/RA a: LARVALHO F. T. DE CARVALHO2,921,237

ELECTRIC DEVICES FOR LUMINOUS ADVERTISING Filed Feb. 19, 1957 Jan. 12,1960 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS INVENTOR:

14 M's/0 TElXE/RA deCARVALHO AGE/V7 Jan. 12, 1960 F. T. DE CARVALHOELECTRIC DEVICES FOR LUMINOUS ADVERTISING Filed Feb. 19, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG] Mercury Coating Fa bio Teixeiro deCurvaIho INVENTOR.

United States Pate to ELECTRIC DEVICES FOR 'LUMINOUS ADVERTISING FabioTeixeira dc Cal'Valllo, s... Paulo, Brazil Application February 19,1957, Serial No. 641,180 2 Claims. (Cl. 315316) 3 The present inventionrelates to an improved electric :device suitable for luminousadvertising and represents an lamp-supporting panel connected to anelectric currentsupply circuit, in which panel is houseda controllingdevice which includes a mercury electrode conveniently spaced from theupper surface of asuport of dielectric material, this dielectric supportcarrying a plurality of contacts operatively connected to the mentionedelectrode.

A sliding sheet of dielectric material is provided between saidelectrode and said plurality of contacts; this sliding sheet haspreferably the form of a removable endless tape of paper, cellulose orthe like, which is provided with a conveniently arranged plurality ofholes. Said l' holes, on passing between the electrode and the pluralityof contacts above mentioned, will permit the electric circuit to beestablished for certain lamps on the panel, whose light will form thedesired symbol or figure.

In this Way there is ensured and facilitated the alternative lighting orextinguishing of one or several groups of electric lamps of at least onecolor, which operate when connected to the electric current-supplycircuit closed by means of the holes provided in the cited slidingsheet. This sliding sheet is conveniently protected against frictionduring its movement.

As above stated, it is clear that the improved aparatus can produce awide variety of combinations of figures and colors, even when it is ofrelatively limited dimensions. Other details of the invention will beevidenced by the following description of one of its preferredembodiments.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the subject matter of thepresent invention, there is represented in the appended drawing, by wayof non-limitative example, one preferred embodiment. In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a partial view of the apparatus, showing the part of thedevice in which'is housed the controlling device, the supporting armsand the guide member for the perforated sheet;

Fig. 2 is a partial side view of the same apparatus showing alongitudinal section;

Fig. 3 is a partial front view of the lamp-supporting panel;

Fig. 4 is a plan partial view of a part of the sliding sheet, showinggroups of holes forming figures;

Fig. 5 is a partial front view of the luminous panel with figures formedby two combined colors, which were obtained by sliding the part of thesheet represented in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan partial view of the contact-supporting sheet, thesecontacts being grouped in accordance with the number of colors employedand connected to the associated groups of lamps; r

Fig. 7 is a -view similar to Fig.1 but showing the perforated tapeoperatively supported on the apparatus; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, on a larger scale, takenon the line VHI--'-VIII of Fig. 7.

As shown in the drawing, the improved apparatus comprises a panel orscreen 1 which supports a plurality of electric lamps 2 connectedtoatleast oneelectric currentvsupply circuit comprising a power'shource3, shownas a transformer, and a controlling device; this controllingdevicejcomprises at least one suitableelectrode 4 conveniently spacedfrom the surface of a dielectric supporting body 5 which is providedwith a plurality ofi contacts 6, operatively connectedto the electrode4. Between this eleotrodeand the plurality of contacts is disposed amovable thin strip 701: dielectric material which has preferably theform of a continuous tape and is guided by suitable means as illustratedin Fig. 7. This .tape has a plurality of holes 8 through which can passthe contact pins 6 to come into contact with the electrode 4' during themovement of the tape 7.

The electrode'4 preferably comprises a coating of mercury on a steelplate 10. The electrode is connected by .means of thelead 11to oneterminal 'of the secondary transformer-winding 12 whosejsecond terminalis con- ;nected;.to ground by means, of a lead 13 having branches whichextend to the permanent contacts of the lamps 2,

as can be seeninFig. 2. The contacts 6' are'connected by means of leads14 to the lamps 2 on the panel 1 as seen in Figs. 6 and 8. e

Thelamps 2 are arrayed on the panel 1 in groups of at least two lamps ofdifierent colors arranged in cup-like recesses 15.

The contactsj 6 operatively connected to theclectrode The dielectric,perforated sliding? tape 7 between:

electrode 4 and the'contacts 6 can be made of paper, cellulose, or thelike and is suitably driven and guided. The holes 8 are longitudinallydivided into at least two groups 0 and d each corresponding to onecolor.

The. guiding means for the sliding tape 7 are represented by mainrollers 16 and secondary rollers 17 which bear on suitable supports 18provided in a frame 19 conveniently disposed. Besides, there areprovided a tensioning device 20 a clutch and speed-changing device 22and drive means 21 for causing motion. i

After the holes have been made in the tape '7 in accordance with thesymbols or figures which are intended to be shown, this tape is put onthe rollers 16 and 17 and passed between the electrode 4 and thecontacts 6 so that, for instance, the group 0 of holes, which correspondto one color, coincide with the group a of contacts 6, which areconnected by means of wire 14 to the lamps of the same color; and thegroup d of holes 8, which correspond to the other color, coincides withthe group b of contacts 6, which are connected by means of wires 14 tothe lamps of the other color. Nothwithstanding the description, beingmade of the case in which only two colors are used, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to this case, because if itis desired to employ more than two colors, it is suflicient to make eachgroup of lamps with more than two lamps and to provide more than twogroups of contacts and perforations in the sliding sheet. If, forinstance, it is desired to use four different colors, each group oflamps must have four lamps, the plurality of contacts must be dividedinto four longitudinally spaced groups and the sliding tape must also beprovided with four longitudinally spaced groups I of holes, each groupof holes and contacts controllingthe operation of the lamps of onecolor.

The supply circuit of each lamp 2 will be closed when a hole 8 of thesliding tape 7 passes over the corresponding contact 6, while the supplycircuits of the other lamps 2 will remain open during the passage of theunperforated parts of the sliding tape 7 over their correspondingconment of the invention without departing from its spirit and scope, asdefined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A luminous'display device comprising a first set of lamps of onecolor and a second set of lamps ofanother color, the lamps of said firstset being closely juxtaposed with respective lamps of said second set, afirst and a second bank of electrodes constituting two parallel arrays,counter-electrode means substantially coextensive with both of saidarrays and positioned adjacent the electrodes thereof, an elongatedinsulating member separating said counter-electrode means from saidbanks of electrodes, said member being longitudinally divided into twozones respectively registering with said arraysand being provided withdiscontinuities in its insulation adapted to enable the establishment ofelectrical contact between said counter-electrode means and respectiveelectrodes of each of said banks, circuit means for selectivelyenergizing the lamps of said first set through respective electrodes ofsaid first bank and the lamps of said second set through respectiveelectrodes of said second bank by way of said discontinuities, and drivemeans for displacing said member between said banks and saidcounter-electrode means in a manner maintaining said zones in alignmentwith the respective electrode banks, the discontinuities in each zonerepresenting a respective color component of a multicolor patterndisplayed by said lamps in progressive mojtion upon the displacement ofsaid member.

7' 2. A luminous display device comprising a panel with a plurality oflight sources arranged in a plurality of parallel rows, each of saidlight sources including a pair of closely juxtaposed lamps ofrespectively a first and a second color, a first and a second bank ofelectrodes arranged in a plurality of parallel rows constituting twoarrays, the number of rows in each array equaling the number of rows ofsaid light sources, counter-electrode means extending across all of saidrows of said banks adjacent the electrodes thereof, an elongatedinsulating member separating said counter-electrode means from saidbanks of electrodes, said member extending with its major dimensionparallel to said rows of electrodes and being longitudinally dividedinto two zones respectively registering with said arrays, said memberbeing provided with discontinuities in its insulation adapted to enablethe establishment of electrical contact between said counterelectrodemeans and respective electrodes of each of said banks, circuit means forselectively energizing the lamps of said first color through respectiveelectrodes of said first bank and the lamps of said second color throughrespective electrodes of said second bank by way of saiddiscontinuities, and drive means for longitudinally displacing saidmember between said banks and said counter-electrode means,the'discontinuities in each zone representing a respective colorcomponent of a multicolor pattern displayed by said lamps in progressivemotion upon the displacement of said member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS449,044 Johnson Mar. 24, 1891 1,362,553 Bogge Dec. 14, 1920 1,788,727Maurer Jan. 13, 1931 2,024,074 Sprague Dec. 10, 1935 2,043,707 NelsonJune 9, 1936 2,177,771 Cravert Oct. 31, 1939 2,340,559 Pruyn et a1 Feb.1, 1944 2,431,380 Elliott Nov. 25, 1947 A FOREIGN PATENTS v 66,987Denmark June 7, 1948

